Stroudsburg attorney wins right to choose electricity provider

Lawyer's building located in overlap zone of Met-Ed, PPL

A consumer living in a swath of Monroe County that has overlapping distribution service from Met-Ed and PPL was granted a freedom of choice by the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission that could set a precedent for others living in that dual service area.

A consumer living in a swath of Monroe County that has overlapping distribution service from Met-Ed and PPL was granted a freedom of choice by the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission that could set a precedent for others living in that dual service area.

The PUC Board of Commissioners in a unanimous May 22 ruling granted Stroudsburg attorney Nicholas Charles Haros, the right to switch his law office, Young & Haros, from Met-Ed to PPL. The ruling concerns who maintains the line, rather than who supplies the power. Met-Ed has until Friday to file an appeal.

Haros' Main Street office is within a spotty area of coverage in East Stroudsburg, Stroudsburg and Smithfield townships where Met-Ed and PPL share lines. It is one of only two areas in the state with overlapping service, according to PUC spokesperson Jennifer Kocher. The other is a much larger area in Northampton County that includes Pen Argyl, Wind Gap, Nazareth boroughs, and Lower Mount Bethel, Plainfield, Bushkill, Allen and East Allen townships.

Kocher noted there may be other areas in the state with municipally owned or co-op companies not subject to PUC rules that have overlapping service.

New businesses that open at existing overlapping sites customarily get the existing carrier for that address with no opportunity to switch. Haros said Met-Ed had been an energy supplier to some of those addresses, including his office, for about a century.

Met-Ed and PPL did not have available data on the number of customers in Monroe County in the overlap.

Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bob Phillips, whose office farther west on Main Street is serviced by PPL, estimated that 20 percent of the businesses on Main Street have overlapping service.

Oddly, Pocono Inne Town hotel on Seventh and Main is partly on Met-Ed, partly PPL. After hurricanes Sandy and Irene, part of the building was lit and another part in darkness.

"Going down Main Street, a fair number of businesses are affected," Haros said.

Kocher believes Haros' is the first complaint on overlap service brought to the PUC.

"It took some effort, but the end result I'm very happy with," Haros said.

Haros sought recourse after Met-Ed denied his request to switch to PPL because of the former's slow response to power outages. He lost service after recent hurricanes and severe storms that exceeded neighboring businesses on PPL. In fact, after Hurricane Sandy, Haros ran an extension cord to a PPL neighbor to get power for his phone system and equipment, but not for heat. Haros said his office was out of power for weeks, while his home in Stroudsburg had power restored within 24 hours.

"That was the tipping point," said Haros.

"We had problems with Met-Ed in the past and subsequent to Hurricane Sandy," Haros said. "This was all based on the problems we were having with electric distribution. We had brownouts and cases where our electricity would go out for a few seconds, and that knocks out the computers and phone system that we had to reset. It was significant enough that we were making complaints to Met-Ed. We were so frustrated with service, we felt we had no option.

"The fact that we had to run extension cords from the building next door to operate should have been an embarrassment to Met-Ed, but instead they were fighting us tooth and nail on trying to switch to PPL. They never gave me a reason why they weren't allowing it. At the hearing, one (Met-Ed) witness finally said he had spoken to Rates Department, which tells me it was an economic decision, not a service decision. He said that as long as I as getting good service, there was no reason for me to switch."

Haros said he originally filed a formal complaint with the PUC on April 3, 2013, his first experience in energy company litigation, that was heard by an Administrative Law Judge Ember S. Jandebeur in Scranton on Sept. 18, 2013. Jandabeur dismissed his complaint in a Jan. 24 decision. Haros then filed an exception on Feb. 13 that allowed his case to be heard by the five-member PUC board headed by Chairman Robert F. Powelson on May 22.

Although it is a ruling on Haros' individual case only, it sets a precedent for other customers in the region who wish to switch providers. Met-Ed must decide by June 6 whether it will appeal, but has not yet signaled whether it will.

"Based on their past history in this case, there is no question they're going to (appeal)," Haros said. "I'm sure they don't want to have this case as precedent."

That appeal would be heard by the Court of Common Pleas, a process that could last a year. A final appeal could be heard by the state Supreme Court, if it decides to look at it.

"The company is reviewing the order and have until June 6, 2014, to determine the next steps," said Brian C. Wauhop, one of the lead attorneys representing Met-Ed, which declined comment.

Haros said Wauhop is with Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, a huge Harrisburg law firm with 530 attorneys, according to its website.

"He took on a monster," the Chamber's Phillips said. "When he told me he was doing this, I agreed. If we have a choice on who we buy from, why can't we have a decision on who can deliver it?

"I give him credit. It sets a precedent on power companies delivering to customers."

"Hopefully this will be helpful to other Met-Ed customers in the area," Haros said.